


Ouroboros Part II

by kronette



Category: Red Dwarf
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-07
Updated: 2014-10-07
Packaged: 2018-02-20 05:29:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2416616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kronette/pseuds/kronette
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The dimension jump drive operated as a tether connecting all the Arnold Rimmers, allowing Ace to flow through the multiverse, secure in the knowledge that he would always run across another Arnold Rimmer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ouroboros Part II

Rimmer was still shaking as the ship jumped dimensions, leaving behind the war-to-end-all-wars between the Simulants and GELFs. He'd barely escaped with his life, weaving between the exploding ships to get a clear enough field to open a dimension wormhole. 

His nostrils were filled with the acrid smell of smoke and ash, mostly coming from his outfit but upon touching his head, realized his wig had been half burned off. "Smeg it all," he snapped as he stripped the wig from his head and tossed it toward the back of the cockpit. "Computer, get me in contact with this dimensions' crew." 

It had taken him far longer than he cared to admit to understand that the dimension jump drive operated as a tether connecting the other Arnold Rimmers. The computer pinpointed a dimension's Arnold Rimmer and jumped to his location, so that Ace had almost always been greeted by a duplicate of himself and a _Starbug_ or _Red Dwarf_ crew. When he'd jumped to a dimension without a current version of Rimmer, he'd learned that Rimmer had either died and not been resurrected as a hologram, or had never been born or had already left to become Ace. 

When it was quiet for several minutes, he tapped on the console. "Computer, did you hear me? I asked you to contact this dimension's Rimmer." 

Her usual sultry voice was somber as she replied, "Cannot compute." 

He scowled. "What do you mean, 'cannot compute'? There's got to be…" Rimmer looked out at the distant stars and felt something cold seize his internal organs. He didn't see any ship, planet or star in the immediate vicinity. "Tell me where the other Rimmer is," he demanded. 

The computer's voice was even quieter as she answered, "I can't, Ace. There isn't a signature for Arnold Rimmer in this dimension." 

"Never mind," he dismissed quickly, battling back the dread that threatened. Heart pounding, he fired up the dimension drive. "Computer, locate the next dimension with my signature."

She primly responded, "Searching."

Rimmer drummed his fingers nervously on the console, chewing on his lower lip as minutes went by without a result. 

For a computer AI, she was doing a very good impersonation of a human nearing panic. "Cannot locate. Searching." 

Rimmer felt dizzy as the computer screens went dark, the AI maximizing her power to conduct the search. 

"Cannot locate," she repeated. "Searching." 

Rimmer closed his eyes as his stomach twisted in knots. In his mind he could still see that vast graveyard of little green boxes, their flashing beacons almost engulfing the nondescript planet. What if this was it? What if there weren't any more Rimmers out there? What if they were all dead? That would make him the last one. The last Ace. The last Arnold Rimmer in the whole of the multiverse. He bent over as he started to hyperventilate amongst the computer's increasingly panicked, "Cannot locate." 

"Find Lister," he blurted out, not wanting to believe it was possible. Not wanting to believe that every single Arnold Rimmer had been wiped out of history. If he found a Lister, he would find another Rimmer. He had been brought back for Lister; surely some of the other Rimmers had been, too. Maybe they had gone into the Space Marines together. Maybe they had never left Mimas. Maybe they had never joined _Red Dwarf_ 's crew. 

"Locating. Dimension 5994495. Calculating jump coordinates." 

" _GO!_ " he yelled as he grabbed the yoke and held on through the turbulence. 

This _Red Dwarf_ looked worse for wear, but there was a Lister on board. Rimmer had visual proof as the monitor flickered to life and a haggard, tired-looking Lister stared back at him. 

"Ace?" Lister asked warily, but there was hope at the end of his question. 

Rimmer forgot about the wig. He forgot about his burned flight suit. He focused on the growing light in Lister's eyes, the weariness falling away as Rimmer smiled. "It's Arnold Rimmer, and I'd like to come on board, if that's okay." 

Lister seemed almost frightened, then he urged, "Yeah. Yeah, landing bay 2."

It was the last thing they said to each other until Rimmer landed his ship and disembarked. 

Lister met him at the doors to the landing bay, bewildered and angry. "I thought you said you'd never come back." 

Rimmer inhaled sharply. "I'm not the Rimmer who left this dimension. I know that, because I never said that to my Lister. I'm afraid your Rimmer is dead. Every Rimmer who has ever been born is dead. I'm the last one." With that declaration, Arnold Rimmer felt the floor give way beneath him as he fainted. 

=-=-=-=

"Why did you come back – come _here_?" Lister corrected after Rimmer had regained consciousness in the Medibay. 

Groggy, light-headed, sick at heart and acutely alone, Rimmer murmured, "I didn't know what else to do." 

Lister's eyes were as hard as his voice as he demanded, "And what did you mean, there aren't any more Rimmers? When you – when he left, Rimmer said there were infinite dimensions with infinite possible Rimmers and Listers and everybody else. How can they all be gone?" 

Fully awake now, Rimmer picked at his burned sleeve and shrugged. "I don't know. I never understood the whole multi dimension thing. My ship's computer is programmed to search for my signature across the universes. She couldn't find any. I can only assume that all of us have already had a turn at being Ace." 

Lister was quiet so Rimmer stayed quiet, too, not knowing what to say. Finally, Lister sucked in a breath and Rimmer looked up expectantly. 

"So you'll be staying then?" It wasn't so much a question as a statement of fact. 

Rimmer dug his thumbnail into his sleeve. He hadn't thought this through. He'd instinctually asked the computer to find a Lister, fully expecting to find a Rimmer, but there was nothing. No soft light hologram, no hard light hologram, no alive Rimmer, no dead Rimmer. Just a Rimmer gone off to be Ace, and he was dead now, too. 

Without looking too closely at why, Rimmer agreed, "Yes. I'd like to stay." 

"I have just one condition." At Lister's solemn expression, Rimmer grew nervous. "Rimmer was in love with me, but I didn't love him. He couldn't handle my rejection so he took Ace's offer to replace him. Were you in love with your Lister, too?" 

"Smeg no!" Rimmer spluttered, relieved that Lister hadn't demanded anything from him. "He was a slobby, optimistic, disgusting, tone-deaf spot of a man, barely human. He smoked, he drank, he ate nothing but curries…what's so funny?" 

Lister was chuckling. "Sounds like he and I weren't all that different." Rimmer grimaced as Lister pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and lit one up. "You want to see your room, smeghead?" 

Rimmer followed him down the corridor, arguing by routine as his mind was occupied with a dilemma. If all the Rimmers were gone, that meant any Listers out there were alone. They might have a Cat and Kryten, they might have a Kochanski, but they might have no one. 

Rimmer would go on indefinitely, as long as his power cells didn't degrade and he didn't damage his hard light drive. This Lister would die and Rimmer would be back at his original problem. His expression wavered as Lister turned to him, alive and vibrant and unconcerned as he explained that Kryten was a 4000 series mechanoid he'd found on a derelict, and she'd been his only company since his Rimmer had left.

Rimmer's smile froze in place as he clapped Lister on the shoulder. "Have no fear, Lister. I'll lambaste you with Space Corps Directives, demand you clean your share of our quarters, critique your choice of music, clothing and food; in short, I will be your superior officer in every way imaginable." 

Lister sagged beneath his hand, though his face lit up in a huge grin. "Cheers, man. I've missed you." 

Forcing himself to snap, "Keep your soppy feelings to yourself, Lister!" Rimmer was lost in an internal crisis of conscience. As Ace, it was his duty to protect the innocent, rescue those in need to rescuing, be brave and selfless and heroic. As he contemplated the most selfless act of any Ace before him, warmth filled him, though he couldn't help but be nervous. Could he actually do it? Could he stay with this Lister until he died, then locate another one? Would other Listers still be alive? It seemed they didn't age, whenever he'd come across the crew over the past five decades. Lister was perpetually 28 years old, no matter what dimension or when Ace found him. 

Maybe it was enough to stay with this Lister and keep him company. 

All his thoughts happened in a nanosecond and Rimmer blinked as Lister snarled good-naturedly at him, "At least I have feelings, Rimmer. Unlike some dead-fish-like persons who shall be unnamed." 

The fuzzy, glowy warmth expanded until Rimmer couldn't hide his smile. "Are you calling me cold?" he bantered easily, falling into step beside Lister. 

Ace had found a new purpose for his life and it was closely aligned with Rimmer's objective after being revived as a hologram: attending to Lister.


End file.
